3/29/18

Tzimmes Adds Tzwo

 Spring officially arrived on March 20
 but a week later MeadowWild still didn’t look very springy yet
 and a Winter Storm Watch is in effect for the last weekend in March, with “high” temperatures reaching only the 20s.

 
 Deer are hanging out by the compost piles
 
 enjoying all that good hay that the goats waste.
 Momma Kitty survived another winter and is often out mousing in the snow for something more tasty than the Meow Mix we provide
 (which she reluctantly shares with PepĂ© Le Pew, active once again after emerging from his winter burrow). 
 Dustin survived the winter by hanging out in his cozy beds near the heating vents – and by being spoiled rotten.
 With the increased daylight, he has relocated to his favorite window.
 Kidding season continues to go well, for which we are extremely grateful.
Tzimmes waited two days past her due date (just to keep Barb guessing – and up checking the barn regularly throughout the night)
 and then waited till the middle of milking and bottle-feeding time early evening on March 23
to deliver 
 a handsome buckling,  Boychik
  and then a gorgeous doeling, Blintz.
Tzimmes’ mom Cheeky
 and then Alice offered seasoned advice and encouragement during the ordeal.
 
 The kids were soon up and getting stronger by the minute.
 We had some concern about how first-time mom Tzimmes would handle motherhood,
fearing that her own mom (Cheeky, who rejected a boy last year and her three girls this year)
 may have passed along the Mommie Dearest gene
 but Tzimmes has been superb, taking good care of her babies from the start
 
 
 and nurturing them along during their first week.
 Blintz is proving to be somewhat of a hellion; on her 4th day, we found her escaped from her pen and wandering around the barn.
 Disbudding wasn’t much fun but proceeded successfully.  Although apprehensive about her appointment with the red-hot iron,
Blintz zoned out from some hypnotic cheek-scratching. 
Meanwhile, the kids across the barn continue to grow like mad.
Cheeky’s girls have bulked up under Barb’s bottle feeding, graduating to bigger and bigger bottles.  They’re a real challenge as they tussle to see who eats first.
Barb gets occasional help from young goat farmers in training.
The eight older kids have started to eat hay
Chaffhaye
and grain.
They have reached the juvenile delinquent stage
jumping up on every elevated surface
including each other
and pummeling with poopy little hooves anyone foolish enough to deliver hay or water to their pen
and colonizing the hay feeders, defying gravity and risking broken legs.
Draco is a fearless little Sherman tank; he challenges people and the adult goats, rearing up on sturdy hind legs and then head-butting anything in his way.
The kids love being outside, and are not afraid of snow;  they plow through drifts to play on the spools
and investigate snowbanks
when they're not riding each other
and butting noggins.
Then it's back to the barn
to bask in the sun
and engage in some serious napping.
Next up in the Kidding Derby: Bhindi, due on Friday, April 13.
Despite the unlucky associations, we’re hoping to close out the kidding season with a barnful of healthy moms and babies.
While she waits, Santa’s Busiest Elf continues to experiment with goats’ milk soaps, using her new molds to create a batch that looks like stones tossed up on the shores of Lake Superior
soon to be available on the MeadowWild sales website.